Overview
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Morning snow, light freezing rain, and some sleet transitioned to rain showers and thunderstorms by midday on April 2nd. An anomalously warm and humid low-level air mass moved into Lower Michigan while the surface warm front lagged well to the south, over the Ohio Valley. Numerous rounds of repeated rainfall during the day and overnight led to several areas across Metro Detroit receiving between 2" and 3" of rainfall within a 24 hour period. This led to multiple reports of flooded roadways, stranded vehicles, basement flooding, and water damage to businesses. A new daily maximum rainfall record was set for Detroit with 2.18" on April 2nd, breaking the previous daily record of 1.44" set in 1945. A new daily maximum rainfall record was also set for Flint with 1.75" for April 2nd, breaking the previous daily record of 1.62" set in 1945. In addition to flooding, a severe thunderstorm tracked across the Tri-Cities and Inner Saginaw Bay late evening, before moving back on land over Huron County. This storm produced large damaging hail with reports of 1.25" (half dollar sized) and 1.5" (ping-pong ball sized) hail (see Photos section). |
Photos & Video
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| Livonia, MI (Courtesy of Ben Redmon) |
Clinton River at 21 Mile, MI (Courtesy of Nader Chasin) |
Casco, MI (Courtesy of The Detroit Scanner) |
Casco, MI (Courtesy of The Detroit Scanner) |
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| Caseville, MI (Courtesy of Toria Kanaby via Broadcast Media) |
Pigeon, MI (Courtesy of Facebook/Broadcast Media) |
Oak Beach, MI (Courtesy of Facebook/Michigan EGLE) |
Radar
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| Radar loop courtesy of Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) |
Storm Reports - Rainfall Totals
Local Storm Reports (Rainfall Totals):
Public Information Statement...Summary
National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac MI
1009 AM EDT Thu Apr 3 2025
STORM TOTAL RAIN REPORTS
Location Precip Duration
(Inches) (Hours) Lat Lon
...Bay County...
1 NE Bay City M 1.22 24 43.59N 83.89W
Auburn M 1.30 24 43.60N 84.08W
...Genesee County...
4 N Burton M 1.37 7.5 43.05N 83.62W
4 N Burton M 2.27 24 43.05N 83.62W
Flint M 2.43 24 43.02N 83.69W
...Huron County...
Bad Axe M 1.03 24 43.80N 83.00W
Port Austin M 1.80 24 44.04N 83.00W
...Lapeer County...
1 N North Branch M 2.05 24 43.25N 83.19W
...Lenawee County...
Morenci M 2.01 24 41.72N 84.22W
Tipton M 2.75 24 42.02N 84.06W
...Livingston County...
4 NW Pinckney M 1.21 12 42.50N 84.00W
Fowlerville M 2.85 24 42.66N 84.07W
...Macomb County...
Richmond M 1.84 24 42.81N 82.75W
2 E Chesterfield M 1.94 24 42.66N 82.80W
1 E Roseville M 2.31 24 42.50N 82.94W
5 NE Sterling Heights M 2.64 24 42.63N 82.96W
Macomb Township M 2.88 24 42.67N 82.92W
...Midland County...
2 NE Midland M 1.00 24 43.64N 84.21W
...Monroe County...
6 NW Monroe M 1.35 24 41.98N 83.47W
Dundee M 1.63 24 41.96N 83.66W
...Oakland County...
4 SW Ortonville M 1.10 7.5 42.81N 83.50W
4 E White Lake M 1.33 8.5 42.65N 83.43W
Leonard M 1.70 12 42.87N 83.14W
Bloomfield Hills M 1.77 24 42.58N 83.25W
Farmington Hills M 1.84 24 42.49N 83.38W
Troy M 2.11 18 42.58N 83.14W
Farmington M 2.14 24 42.46N 83.38W
1 E White Lake M 2.24 24 42.65N 83.50W
Leonard M 2.53 24 42.87N 83.14W
Madison Heights M 2.58 23 42.49N 83.11W
Ortonville M 2.68 24 42.85N 83.44W
1 SW Ferndale M 3.06 24 42.46N 83.13W
1 ENE Lake Orion M 3.21 24 42.78N 83.24W
...Saginaw County...
3 S Nelson M 1.03 6 43.29N 84.25W
Saginaw M 1.51 24 43.42N 83.95W
Oakley M 2.30 24 43.14N 84.17W
...Sanilac County...
Lexington M 2.53 24 43.27N 82.53W
...Shiawassee County...
Owosso M 2.20 24 43.00N 84.18W
...St. Clair County...
3 N St Clair County Int M 2.17 24 42.95N 82.53W
...Tuscola County...
Cass City M 1.77 24 43.60N 83.18W
...Washtenaw County...
Manchester M 2.45 24 42.15N 84.04W
4 SE Ann Arbor M 2.57 25 42.23N 83.68W
1 S Pittsfield Township M 3.07 24 42.19N 83.72W
...Wayne County...
Wyandotte M 1.80 24 42.21N 83.15W
Southgate M 2.08 24 42.21N 83.19W
2 SE Romulus M 2.28 24 42.20N 83.34W
Garden City M 2.83 24 42.33N 83.33W
M = Measured
E = Estimated
Observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying equipment and exposures. We thank all volunteer weather observers for their dedication. Not all data listed are considered official.
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| Rainfall estimates via National Water Prediction Service: water.noaa.gov |
Hail
Preliminary Local Storm Report National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac MI 859 PM EDT Wed Apr 02 2025 ..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0856 PM Hail Port Austin 44.04N 83.00W 04/02/2025 M1.00 inch Huron MI Trained Spotter
0842 PM Hail Pigeon 43.83N 83.27W 04/02/2025 M1.00 inch Huron MI Public Photos sent on Facebook. 0850 PM Hail 4 E Caseville 43.94N 83.19W 04/02/2025 E1.50 inch Huron MI Public Size estimated from photo on Facebook. 0852 PM Hail 3 NE Lake Township 43.99N 83.12W 04/02/2025 M1.25 inch Huron MI Public Photo found on Facebook
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| SPC Storm Reports for April 2, 2025 | Local Storm Reports for April 2, 2025 |
Environment
A strong upper level jet extending from the Desert Southwest through the Great Lakes provided energetic winds aloft (Fig. 3) as a surface low tracked from the Missouri River Basin to the Upper Midwest. A surface warm front extending southeastward from the low struggled to lift northward across the Ohio Valley (Fig. 1) while the elevated portion of the boundary advanced more aggressively into Lower Michigan. The coupled low-level jet helped sustain efficient moisture transport into the region with PWATs climbing into the 1.25 inch to 1.50 inch range (Fig. 4). These values exceeded sounding climatology for KDTX with the April 3rd 00Z KDTX sounding having sampled a PWAT of 1.31 inches.
An impressive temperature inversion was noted in the evening RAOB marked by a surface temperature of 39F (3.8C) and a 900 mb/922 m temperature of 63.5F (17.5C) at the top of the inversion. This yielded a temperature difference of 24.7F (13.7C) in less than a kilometer (Fig. 2). The inversion proved formidable through 03Z as the Elevated Mixed Layer (EML) supported persistent MUCAPE of over 1,000 J/kg (Fig. 5). Early in the event, a severe thunderstorm latched onto a mesoscale boundary and capitalized on elevated tall/skinny CAPE as it tracked across the Tri-Cities and Inner Saginaw Bay late into the evening. The storm weakened slightly before moving back on land over Huron County where impressive reflectivity values were detected (+70 dBZ, not shown) which highlighted the damaging hail threat.
In spite of the very strong low-level winds in excess of 55 mph (at 1 kft) with effective bulk shear (EBS) in excess of 45 knots (Fig. 5), the inversion layer prevented the mechanical mixing of strong gusty winds which kept thunderstorm wind gusts below 40 mph. The primary threat south of M-46 was the torrential rainfall with a delayed departure of the primary, secondary, and tertiary convective bands which featured redevelopment along the back edge past midnight. A final sub-severe convective line worked through during the early morning hours on April 3rd which resulted in some rainfall totals in excess of 3”.
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| Figure 1: WPC Surface Analysis, valid 00 UTC 03 April 2025 | Figure 2: DTX Sounding, valid 00 UTC 03 April 2025 |
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| Figure 3: 300 mb Level Analysis, valid 00 UTC 03 April 2025 | Figure 4: Precipitable Water (in) in lowest 400mb, valid 00 UTC 03 April 2025 |
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| Figure 5: MUCAPE and Effective Bulk Shear, valid 00 UTC 03 April 2025 | Figure 6: 850 mb Moisture Transport, valid 00 UTC 03 April 2025 |
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